Steve Scauzillo

Reporter

Recent articles

Smog

Can smog be beneficial?A new study says yes, sort of. Tiny pieces of air pollution — also called fine particulates — contribute to human cases of asthma, lung disease, even premature death and therefore are a target for removal by state and federal air quality agencies looking to protect public health.But researchers from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Canada Flintridge and Caltech in Pasadena have discovered these same microscopic dirt balls fouling...

Local governments

The cities of Diamond Bar and Chino Hills are pushing back against plans the industrial-dominated City of Industry has to purchase a huge swath of open space within the two cities’ boundaries.Industry officials have indicated they want to build a solar farm on Tres Hermanos Ranch, 2,450 acres where Los Angeles, San Bernardino and Orange counties meet — and outside of Industry’s own city limits.Separately, city managers from Diamond Bar and Chino Hills have...

Environment

A San Bernardino County congressman is calling on the Trump administration to shrink the boundaries of the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument, causing anxiety among some of the monument’s ardent supporters.Rep. Paul Cook, R-Yucca Valley, wants to lop off a finger of the 346,177-acre monument located mostly in the Angeles National Forest in Los Angeles County. Cook wants to remove 4,873-acre...

Transportation

A strike that stranded 24,000 Foothill Transit bus riders Monday was quickly settled the same day, with managers predicting a return to full service Tuesday.“We expect normal operations (Tuesday),” Leslie Aun, vice president of communications for Keolis Transit America said in an emailed response Monday afternoon.The work stoppage began just after...

Local governments

The City of Industry has quietly put more than $9 million in public funds at risk as it pursues an ambitious and uncertain proposal to develop a sprawling solar farm in the open hills connecting Los Angeles, Orange and San Bernardino counties.The spending, in the form of advances to a private energy firm formed last year, has steadily increased despite extended delays in securing key property for the project, warnings that needed zoning changes aren’t guaranteed and questions...

Local governments

A developer who has been a primary business contact for the City of Industry as its seeks to create a large, urban solar power farm owes millions of dollars to creditors because of troubled past developments, government records show.The proposed private-public energy project envisions a 444-megawatt solar...

1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games

Ben Wong remembers excitedly driving to Santa Anita racetrack with a pocketful of cash.No, not to bet on the ponies. To buy tickets just made available to various events of the 1984 Summer Olympic games.The ladies at the ticket windows were handed the extra tickets not claimed through the normal, write-in process for event reservations and were selling them for cash only. Wong ended up snagging tickets to the men’s basketball gold medal game and the opening...

Local governments

At a meeting with representatives from four surrounding cities, City of Industry City Manager Paul Philips broke the silence about the city’s plans for developing Tres Hermanos ranch, confirming publicly for the first time that the city is pursuing a massive solar farm on the property.Philips met with city managers or executive staff from Brea, Diamond Bar, Chino Hills and Walnut along with State Sen. Josh Newman, D-Brea, at a closed-door meeting July 27 at Red Restaurant at...

Funerals and memorial services

WALNUT >> Services were held this week for the wife of a Walnut city councilman who lost her life in a crash on the 60 Freeway in South El Monte last month.Tiffany Chiali Yi Ching, 49, died in the July 20 crash on the

Water management

PASADENA >> Under court order, the Los Angeles County Flood Control District has revised its environmental review of a massive sediment cleanout of Devil’s Gate Dam expected to damage 71 acres of streambeds and wildlife habitat.The addition to the previously approved environmental report addresses deficiencies in the county’s plan to restore land in Hahamongna Watershed Park, home to endangered birds, bats, frogs and other animals. It will also re-examine the...